Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ This Time Imperfect ❯ Accepting Fate ( Chapter 1 )

This Time Imperfect
Chapter 1

I used to think I had my life figured out. Since childhood I've played the role of a hero, placed at the forefront of every battle, undefeated.

Up until the moment that Radditz stepped into my life, I thought I was finally in control of myself and that I could put my differences behind me. I no longer questioned my humanity and accepted that all people were unique and that there was really nothing wrong with me. So what if I was a kid with a tail and possessed inhuman strength? It was the way that God made me.

Being young, married, and a brand new father, I didn't have the time to contemplate it. Aside from a few minor concerns (Gohan being born with a tail and the Doctor's confusion), I didn't think anything of it and admitted that it was just some kind of hereditary birth defect.

I wished Chichi had let him keep his tail... What wrong could it do in staying where it belonged? My son is an extension of myself and having a tail didn't mean he was any more different from anyone else. I was confident that I would never have to face the kind of persecution that my peers have experienced. I was safe in my home, guarded by the many hundred miles of uninhabited wild that encompassed us.

It wasn't until after Gohan's fourth birthday that everything I thought I knew about myself changed (Gohan's tail grew back and I was secretly pleased). I wonder now that if I had not gone to Roshi's island would I even be the same person I am today? Gohan could have lived out his life normally and never be forced to abandon his childhood and I might've still remained blissfully ignorant of my origins.

But, what is the use of asking "What if" when there is nothing that can be done to rewrite the past? There isn't an undo button that I can press every time something happens that I don't agree with. I can only move on from then and hope for the best... I have my story at last and I am more aware of myself now than ever. ..And so, I continue this tale to remember how it all started.

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Radditz had come to collect his younger brother Kakarott and would do so by force if necessary. He balked at my resistence to him and became outraged when I told him that Kakarott was not my name and that I was only known as Goku.

Radditz seemed to be in deep thought for a moment before laughing and stating that I truly had forgotten... He sneered and waved his tail behind him tauntingly, and proceeded to remind me of WHO and WHAT I really am.

My people are dead and the only fullbloods that remained other than myself were my brother and two others by the name of Nappa and Vegeta. It was my destiny to become a killer, to rise above the weak and claim and conquer neighboring planets. Afterall, being the son of a warrior by the name of Bardock, my purpose in the rise of an empire was vital.

I was sent to Earth to destroy it, not to become the tailless wonder that lived in the guise of a human. He explained that my unquenchable desire to fight was a part of who I am and what constituted the saiyan race. He could see it in my eyes as I shook and dug my feet into the ground. His gaze burned through me and knew that it was all I could muster to restrain the beast that had been trying to rip its way out of me for years...

I didn't want to believe him, that the true reason I had come to being here was to exterminate all of humanity and join my bother's side in universal domination. But in denying his claims, Master Roshi stepped forth and shared a secret he'd kept for the span of my 22 years.

My grandfather Gohan found a little tailed baby inside a spacepod that had crash-landed deep in the heart of the mountains. He rescued the tiny lad and was startled to find that the baby was a wild and angry thing that fought and bit him when he was held. Gohan was distraught because he didn't want to leave such a tiny boy all alone in the wilderness. Despite the nasty streak the child possessed, he was taken to the old man's home and raised as his own.

Not long after, Gohan had been on an outing and the baby sat in a basket strapped to the old man's back. The baby, who he had named Goku, became distracted by a butterfly and it just so happened that Gohan was near a treacherous ledge. The infant, not knowing the danger, leapt out of the basket to grasp the ellusive insect and fell down the ravine.

Gohan was convinced that such a fall had ended the little one's life. Still, the old man, on tired legs, sped down the winding path to the bottom of the cliff. He clung to all the hope in the world that there was something he could do for the baby. He thought the worst and wept when he found the boy in a puddle of blood, unconscious but miraculously alive.

It didn't take long, but with the aid of the old man's knowledge of medicine, the baby healed at a phenomenal rate and awoke a different person. Goku's personality had changed, turning him from a wild animal into a sweet and loving little boy...

Most likely, Roshi explained, that the bump on my head had caused irreparable damage to my brain and shut off that violent part of myself like a light switch.

I stared at my old mentor as if I no longer knew him and if not for little Gohan clinging to my leg I would have forgotten I even stood there. I didn't feel like myself anymore. I didn't want to be who they said I was... Fuck them both. I AM GOKU!!! I AM NOT AN ALIEN!!!

Gohan clung to me harder and cried because he could sense my anger and he was afraid of the strange man with the long spikey hair. I reached to hold him, my hand on his head and swallowed the ache in my chest, screaming at myself to stay calm and think this through. The last thing my son needed was his father going apeshit on his own brother.

Radditz, upon discovering that he had become an Uncle understood that in order to win his brother over he'd had to do a little persuading, even if it meant doing the unthinkable.

My son's life was in jeopardy and in order to lure me into giving myself up, Radditz kidnapped Gohan and there was nothing I could do to stop him.

I've never met an enemy I couldn't beat and the moment my brother struck me, I fell down hard and I lay there, gasping for breath. My son's cries carried in the thin wind, resonating about me like a curse and it was then that I realized.... There are bigger things that exist in this universe, things that I have no hope in defeating if I continue as I am. I'd have to accept my fate and use the information given to me as a tool in order to beat Radditz and take back my son.

I got up with the help of my friends and stared into the empty blue sky.

'I am not a human.
My name is Kakarott and I am a saiyan.'

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Would you like to know something? I don't resent him now. Despite all the terrible things that Radditz did that day, I'd thank my brother if he was still alive. If not for him, I would have never met Vegeta. And without Vegeta in my life.... Well... that would just be a tragedy.